St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs, 5/5/2019 Predictions & Odds

Cardinals vs. Cubs Sunday Prediction

The ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew heads to Wrigley Field tonight as the Cubs host the Cardinals at 7:05 p.m. ET. Can bettors expect plenty of offensive fireworks when Adam Wainwright toes the rubber against Jose Quintana?

Game Snapshot & Odds

913 St. Louis Cardinals (+127) at 914 Chicago Cubs (-138); 10 runs

Sunday, May 5, 2019

7:05 p.m. ET, Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

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Public Betting Trends

According to our MLB Public Betting Chart page, 51% of the betting tickets are on the Cardinals to beat the Cubs on the money line.

St. Louis Cardinals Fantasy Spin

Jose Martinez went 2-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored in a loss to the Cubs on Saturday. Martinez gave the Cards an early 1-0 lead with a solo shot off of Yu Darvish in the second inning; his second roundtripper of the year. He also doubled, and it improves his slash on the year to .364/.400/.511 in 33 games. Martinez has obvious defensive deficiencies, but he can flat-out hit. Fortunately, those struggles with the glove won't hurt you too much in your various fantasy leagues.

Chicago Cubs Fantasy Spin

Javier Baez went 2-for-4 and hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning in a 6-5 victory for the Cubs over the Cardinals on Saturday. With the score tied at five in the bottom of the eighth, Baez obliterated a John Brebbia offering to centerfield to give the infielder his 11th homer and the Cubs the victory. Baez also singled and came around to score on Taylor Davis's grand slam in the fourth inning. He's now hitting .318 with a 1.059 OPS and 28 RBI over 129 at-bats. The only thing he hasn't done is stolen bases, but calling that nitpicking is an understatement.

MLB Betting Trends

St. Louis

The Cardinals are 12-5 in Wainwright’s last 17 starts against the Cubs and are 14-6 in his last 20 road outings versus Chicago.

Chicago

The Cubs are 5-1 in their last six games versus the Cardinals and are 20-8 in their last 28 home games versus St. Louis.

Prediction:

For some reason, Wainwright has pitched fairly well against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, or at least has benefitted from the wind blowing in (like a year ago when he faced the Cubs on a Sunday night in Chicago). But while the under is 6-2-1 in Wainwright’s last nine starts versus the Cubs and is 4-1-1 in Quintana’s last six outings against the Cardinals, I like the over tonight. While the weather can change before first pitch tonight, the current forecast calls for the wind to be blowing out to left-center at 8 miles per hour. Wainwright isn’t a big strikeout pitcher, relying instead on pitching to contact and keeping the ball on the ground. If the Cubs’ hitters can elevate his curveball and hack away at a slider that will at times back up on the veteran, then these two teams should combine to score enough runs to meet the high total. Meanwhile, Quintana has been excellent but he’s allowing hard contact at a rate of 34.5%. The Cardinals offense had cooled in their previous two games before yesterday but they scored five runs at Wrigley on Saturday so they should be back to their free-swinging ways.

The Pick: Cardinals/Cubs OVER 10